1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a graphic data processing system for generating and displaying a prismatic figure as one of solid figures, and a graphic data processing method used for the graphic data processing system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In recent presentation materials, such as office documents, brochures, and catalogs, many figures are used to make an effective presentation. There are many types of figures, such as figures each including a simple line or a simple circle, complicated figures, and colored figures. In these figures, the prismatic figures, such as rectangular prisms and triangular prisms, are frequently used.
To form a prismatic figure, a three-dimensional graphic processing technique is sometimes used because the figure is solid or three-dimensional. The three view drawings are usually used to set a solid figure by the three-dimensional graphic processing technique. After the shapes of the solid figure as viewed in three directions are entered to the machine by using the three views drawings, the figure is rotated in a three-dimensional space, to adjust the direction of the figure. In the figure rotation work, an operator often cannot rotate the figure as he desires. If the direction of the figure can be adjusted, he experiences another difficulty in adjusting the size of the figure, such as the height and width. If the size adjustment is unsatisfactory, the operator must return to the first step of entering the shape by the three view drawings, and start the figure forming work from the first step again. Thus, the figure forming work consumes much time and labor.
Another way to form a prismatic figure uses a two-dimensional graphic processing technique. In this technique, the operator depicts the solid figure by appropriately combining lines and planar figures so as to form a figure having the direction, size and shape as he desires. When using the two-dimensional graphic processing technique, the figure can be entered as the operator desires. Where the number of faces of the prismatic figure is increased, the numbers of lines and faces that must be handled are increased. Formation of such a prismatic figure takes much effort. To alter a geometrical configuration of a solid figure once entered, viz., to change the size and height of the figure, the altering operation must be applied to each of the combined figures, and hence the altering work is time-consuming and troublesome.